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Messages - HarlowTheFish

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76
The Pickup Place / Re: Pickup suggestions please!
« on: September 24, 2019, 01:57:46 PM »
The Dominion is a good call. I'd suggest the Transition set if you want something a little more controlled, a Norton/Air Norton if you want something more old-school, or the Gravity Storms if you want something more modern - I will say though see if you can find a blue floral JEM to try them in, 'cause they're kinda different-feeling to play and have a pretty unique sound.

77
The Pickup Place / Re: "22 fret sounding" neck humbucker for 24 fret guitar
« on: September 24, 2019, 02:20:09 AM »
thank you for your reply

Currently the guitar is sent to my tech and i planned to have air norton that i have lying around fitted. My only gripe is, the color, its red and black, no doubt it'll look terrible  :madness: ;D

yeah, when i listened to paf pro demos again, i think it will still be too bright for this guitar, although it might add some thickness to it. I heard Paf joe is quite bright as well, some say its one of the brightest although the attack is dull/warmer. the bluesbucker is a good concept but in the end like you said, its sounds like a single coil, i need a humbucker sound.

I dont actually like Vai type of sound, and dont really care for vai's pickup prior to reading its specs. But ater reading that its actually PAF based, im somewhat intrigued. My worry is it'll be too dark/mushy, but then i never tried the pickup nor arethere a decent demo out there (of other people except vai)

Transition and air classic are interesting (though air classic might be too low of an output for me/thin, it does sound single coil "ish"). I've tried steve morse PU b4. Its ok, not impressed, very round, not for me.

other than mentioned above what about the other modern offerings? like titan, imperium, rainmaker, gravity storm etc?

If you think the Breed will be too mushy, the Dominion set (Mark Morton's sig) is based on the Breed but with a ceramic magnet, a little tighter, and a little more push and output.

The PAF Joe is bright in the sense that it's not a super low-end heavy pickup, but when you mentioned tubular that's the first one I thought of. It'll be bright enough to be articulate, but it's made for a smooth lead tone.

If you don't want bright, you probably don't want the Titan or Imperium. The Titan is really bright and clear, with a super focused upper midrange, and is really good at that modern prog djenty vibe. I like them, but I like brightness. The Imperium is made for Drop C and lower and is a very particular pickup in that it just plays kinda weird, really elasticky and bouncy. The folks over at sevenstring.org weren't super impressed with it, and I haven't heard much about it outside of there.

The Gravity Storm set is actually one of my favorite Dimarzio combos, but again, it's a very particular pickup. If you can get your hands on one of the blue floral JEMs to try, they come with a GS set. The bridge is super fat and muscular, and the neck is a lot brighter but in a way that just compensates for the neck position, so switching between the two works really well in that whatever tone sounds good with one will also sound good with the other. They're definitely not 22-fret sounding, though, really modern, articulate, and snappy.

The Rainmaker is kinda meh to me to be honest. All of the JP pickups have been different spices on the same basic dish - they sound killer in his EBMMs through a Mesa or a similar amp, but I've been incredibly unfazed and underwhelmed when I've tried them in any other setup. In an EBMM through a Marshall they're boxy and nasal (Illuminators or the Sonic Ecstasy set), through an H&K like mine they're flat and lack punch (Illuminators and Crunch Lab/Liquifire), and the set of Illuminators a buddy had in a mahogany/walnut tele was too tubby through basically everything. JP's got a very dialed-in rig so it all works really nicely (and a Majesty through a Mark V is crazy good) but when you start messing with the variables it gets weird and unpleasant pretty fast IMO.

78
The Pickup Place / Re: "22 fret sounding" neck humbucker for 24 fret guitar
« on: September 23, 2019, 07:08:12 PM »
The PAF Pro you will probably find too bright, and if you want something that doesn't sound like a single-coil, the Bluesbucker will definitely not be for you - the entire pitch for that pickup is that it sounds like a p90. The PAF Joe will be similar to a PAF Pro but a little warmer, a bit more midrange, and less bright overall. The Air Norton is actually great for stuff beyond Dream Theater. It's got a nice fat tone that works for jazz or rock well, without being too thick in the lows. I personally find the AN a little too warm for my tastes, but if that's what you're looking for it'll work well.

The Breed set was made to get a good rock LP-ish tone out of Steve Vai's JEM, so if that's the kind of thing you're looking for, it'll be a pretty good fit - it does seem to be kinda picky about what guitar you put it in, so YMMV.

Honorable mentions to the Transition set, which is a killer thick-but-clear tone, the Air Classic which does the vintage-modern thing incredibly IMO, and the Steve Morse neck - if you want a fat tone, the SM will give you that in spades, but it's very, very fat.

79
The Pickup Place / Re: PICKUP SET for IBANEZ RGAR42MFMT
« on: September 21, 2019, 12:14:28 PM »
280 and ceramic, according tot he website. I wasn't crazy on the bridge pickup either, but I really like the neck.

80
The Pickup Place / Re: PICKUP SET for IBANEZ RGAR42MFMT
« on: September 20, 2019, 11:41:41 PM »
See you'd think a FRED neck would be too hot, but just like a PAF Pro they balance out really nicely just by adjusting the height.

If you're thinking HFH, it's definitely not a traditional humbucker at all. If you like a neck single-coil, it'll do that pretty well, but if you want something with a little more body or a little warmer then it's not really gonna do it for you. Maybe a Titan neck? I've played it a bunch on the Jake Bowen Ibby (which is basically a modded RGA) and I think it's a super nice pickup - clear and cutting without being harsh or trebly, and not woolly or too dark, but still sounds like a neck humbucker. The parallel setting on that pickup is GODLY for ambient cleans or mid-gain leady stuff, and the full series wiring is really great for stuff from jazz to high-gain.

81
The Pickup Place / Re: PICKUP SET for IBANEZ RGAR42MFMT
« on: September 20, 2019, 08:14:35 PM »
Double FRED, FRED-B/PAF Pro-N, or double PAF Pro IMO. Will be lower output and a bit of a different vibe to the D Activators, but still bright and clear under gain.

82
The Pickup Place / Re: Breed Neck/Bridge in Ibanez S-type
« on: September 14, 2019, 01:43:37 AM »
The Ibby S series is thin, but they're generally made of decently dense mahogany with a maple top - a lot like a maple-topped SG, kinda bright but with really forward mids. The Breeds will sound hella fat in one, but I'd be worried that they'd get too honky. Maybe something like the Transitions that are a little more controlled in the midrange? I'd be looking for pickups that have a tamed top end rather than boosted lows or mids, as that will complement the natural tendencies. Whatever you'd put in an SG would work well in an Ibby S, and I like Tim from Bare Knuckle's philosophy: either something that's very vintage-output to let it breathe and keep the midrange open, or something super high output to just brute-force your way past the honky midrange.

83
V30s, if you want something more traditional, or a newer Marshall cab, something like the JVM2x12, those are pretty bright. If you want something a little more modern, the DV Mark Neoclassic cabs are really high wattage, pretty bright, and sound really even across the spectrum which gives you a lot of tone shaping options with your amp.

84
Guitar Lounge / Re: The most versatile super strat ever made
« on: September 10, 2019, 02:46:13 PM »
Luke II HSS

Still want one in the metallic blue, it's killer. Neck's very unique tho so try before you buy.

85
Guitar Lounge / Re: New neck time.
« on: September 09, 2019, 06:42:23 PM »
They haven't been doing that for very long. First time I saw that was like, early last year maybe?

86
Guitar Lounge / Re: New neck time.
« on: September 08, 2019, 07:25:40 PM »
The thing is it's not just replacing the board and putting in new frets. The neck needs to be straightened out and leveled, might need a new truss rod, might need refinishing, and then it can get a new board and frets. Sure it's more expensive than getting a new neck, but in a lot of cases it's also a lot more work than one too.

87
The Pickup Place / Re: Help me select a neck pickup
« on: September 07, 2019, 12:03:03 AM »
I'd probably agree in that it physically doesn't have the same construction as the other Dimarzio humbuckers that gives them that signature midrange.
However, you could definitely fine-tune your tone to get you that. My Strandberg Classic 6 with the stock neck single can get a snappy vocal midrange if I run my amp with the midrange gunned just as much as my Ibby with Dimarzios does, just needs a little help. The thing with the Bluesbucker (and every other single-coil or single-coil-like pickup) is that you can compensate for the pickup's voicing with the tone knob and your playing technique in ways that the average humbucker really can't.

88
The Pickup Place / Re: Help me select a neck pickup
« on: September 04, 2019, 11:41:39 AM »
The Pro works in a lot of combos, so you could keep it dropped all the way (I'm not sure what the cavity clearance is like on the JP100D so YMMV). The HFH sounds like and angry single coil with a bit more heft, so if you're into that it might work. Maybe something like a Bluesbucker? It's more p90ish.

89
The Pickup Place / Re: Wiring advice for DP103-pickups
« on: August 09, 2019, 04:52:01 PM »
Could be the pickup selector ground, or some sort of shielding issue, among other things, but those are the most common I've seen. You might also have a noisy switch - some of the lower-end toggles are like that sometimes. If it's the selector ground, it's a pretty easy fix (just resolder it and it should be fine). If it's a shielding issue, it's a little more time-consuming (getting shielding tape, putting it in properly, and re-grounding) but not hard. If it's the toggle, it should probably be replaced.

90
The Pickup Place / Re: Wiring advice for DP103-pickups
« on: August 09, 2019, 02:08:15 AM »
Yeah it's fine for less conductors, but it becomes an issue with more wires because if the contacts start touching the inside shielding paint or foil it can cause shorts to ground that will get you no sound. Ideally you'd solder each pickup directly to the back of pots to avoid this, but the existing solution should work - just make sure you put heat-shrink tubing or something around the joint securely so you don't get problems.

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